Cloth detwister apparatus

ABSTRACT

A detwister apparatus for use in finishing operations on longitudinally travelling cloth or other sheet materials, especially materials such as knit goods which require handling at low levels of tension. The cloth, gathered into a rope-like bundle, is passed through a rotatable tube guide. The entrance end of the guide is fitted with a plurality of smoothly curved protrusions which extend radially inwardly only partially across the entrance, and are circumferentially spaced apart to engage the rope-like bundle lightly. The entrance may further be fitted with a bell mouth frame to guide the cloth bundle smoothly into the guide. By rotating the guide, the cloth bundle is turned by the protrusions, and is thus twisted or detwisted.

United States Patent Bassani 1 51 Sept. 26, 1972 CLOTH DETWISTER APPARATUS Inventor: Mariano Bassani, Milan, Italy Assignee: Mount Hope Machinery Company,

Taunton, Mass.

April 19, 1971 Filed:

Appl. No.:

u.s. c1 ..s7/1 UN Int. Cl ..D06c 3/06 Field 61 Search ..57/1 UN, 2, 3, 31, 34 11,32, 57/773, 77.4, 164, 165, 167; 26/52, 54, 63,

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 7/1941 Cook ..57/l UN 8/1956 Dean ..57/l UN 5/1958 Moorhouse et al. ..57/l UN 10/1970 Jaffee et al. ..57/l UN X FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 7/1930 France ..57/l UN 677,647 8/1952 Great Britain ..57/l UN Primary Examiner-Donald E. Watkins Attorney-Rich & Ericson 5 7] ABSTRACT A detwister apparatus for use in finishing operations on longitudinally travelling cloth or other sheet materials, especially materials such as knit goods which require handling at low levels of tension. The

cloth, gathered into a rope-like bundle, is passed By rotating the guide, the cloth bundle is turned by the protrusions, and is thus twisted or detwisted.

7 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures P'A'TENTEDsms m2 SHEET 1 0f 2 //VVE/VTOR MARIANO BASSANI M g 65114011,

ATTORNEYS PMENTEflszrzs 1912 3.693. 336.

snmenrz v INVENTOR MARIANO BASSANI Byw ww ATTORNEYS 1 CLOTH DETWISTER APPARATUS BACKGROUND AND BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Many finishing operations, including dyeing, bleaching, washing, are performed on cloth bundled into the form of a rope. After the cloth has been processed, it must be opened into flat sheet form. The rope often becomes twisted in the course of processing, intentionally or otherwise, and this twist must be removed before the sheet can be opened and flattened. An effort to open twistedcloth by pulling its edges apart simply tightens the twist.

One known type of detwister apparatus employs ring guides which pass the bundled cloth between opposed rolls or jaws. These extend transversely to the length of the cloth rope, and are pressed together by springs to grip the rope between them. As the cloth is pulled through the rolls or jaws, they are selectively rotated with the ring guides about the longitudinal axis of the rope to remove its twist. An example of a detwister of this kind appears in U.S. Pat. No. 2,248,962, issued July 15, 1941 to P. Cook and entitled Web Manipulating Apparatus.

Detwisters of this kind impose a relatively high degree of tension on the cloth body, which is intolerable for handling some easily stretched materials such as knit goods.

It is the primary object of my invention to provide an improved detwister apparatus which operates at a reduced level of cloth tension, and is therefore especially adapted for twisting or detwisting knit goods or other stretchy materials. It is a further object to enable stretchy cloth to be opened from a rope-like bundle without subjecting the cloth to injurously high levels of tension. Further objects and advantages of the invention will appear as the following description proceeds.

The invention is concerned with a detwister of the kind having a tube guide through which the cloth, bundled into the form of a rope, is fed longitudinally. According to my invention, I form a number of protrusions with smoothly curved surfaces on the interior surface of the tube guide. These protrusions are circumferentially spaced about the guide, preferably at the entrance end, and extend only partially across the internal passage. I also prefer to mount a bell mouth frame at the entrance end of the guide for smoothly feeding the cloth bundle without bends. The tube guide is rotatably mounted in bearings and is drivingly connected with selectively reversible motive means, so that it may be turned about its major axis, and thus about the longitudinal axis of the bundle. The protrusions engage the bundle and impart this rotation to it, without imposing undue drag that would necessitate excessive cloth tension to draw it through the guide. The motive means may be controlled manually, or automatically by a conventional twist detector, to turn in an angular direction opposite to twists detected in the bundle and thereby remove them. The bundle is then delivered to conventional means for opening the cloth into the flat sheet form.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS While the specification concludes with claims particularly pointing out the subject matter which I regard as my invention, it is believed that a clearer understanding may be gained from the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment, referring to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a view in front elevation of a tube guide forming a portion of the improved detwister apparatus;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary sectional view taking along line 2-2 in FIG. 1, looking in the direction of the arrows;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a protrusionforming block employed in the tube guide;

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing the tube guide incorporated in the detwister apparatus; and

FIG. 5 is a schematic view in elevation showing the improved detwister in an illustrative cloth-opening system.

Referring first to FIG. 5, the detwister apparatus operates on a length of cloth 10 which is supplied by a bin 11 in a rope-like bundle. The cloth passes through a tube guide 12 which serves both to detwist the bundle and to feed it in proper alignment around a sheave 13. This sheave retains the cloth in the bundled rope form as it passes to a twist detector 15. The sheave 13 may be replaced by a standard pot-eye. The cloth then feeds into opening equipment of any well-known type, illustrated generally at 17, and over a guide roll 19 to apparatus (not shown) which feeds it forwardly in the direction shown by the arrow. A

The twist detector 15 may for example be of the kind which is shown and described by U.S. Pat. No. 2,759,324, issued Aug. 21, 1956 to Walter E. Dean. The opening equipment 17 may be of various known types, such as shown for example by U.S. Pat. No. 3,419,944, issued Jan. 7, 1969 to Nicholas T. Santore. The twist detector serves to determine the angular direction of any twist that may exist in the cloth body, and may be connected to control the operation of the detwister guide 12. Alternatively, the twist detector may be omitted; the operations of the detwister guide 12 arethen controlled manually by an operator who observes the bundle as it departs from the sheave 13. The opening equipment 17 serves to spread the cloth into a flat sheet form.

Referring now to FIGS. l-4, the tube guide 12 has a diameter larger than the cloth bundle, and its interior cylindrical surface is smoothly finished. It is mounted on a base frame 14 by means of bearing blocks 18 bolted to the frame. The blocks 18 encase ball bearings 20, in which the guide 12 is mounted for rotation about its major longitudinal axis. The ball bearings may be replaced by other bearing means, such as oiled wood bearings. Tubular casing members 21, 22, and 23 are attached to the outer surface of the guide and locate it with respect to the bearings. The latter are enclosed and protected from foreign matter by rings 24 fastened to the blocks 18.

The entrance end of the tube guide 12 is provided with a mounting ring 25 secured by screws 33. This ring supports a welded bell mouth structure formed of rods having a circular cross-section, including a guide ring 26 and circumferentially spaced curved support 27. The bell mouth serves to lead the cloth rope l0 smoothly into the tube guide 12, and prevents sharp bends or kinks which would impose restraint on the cloth and therefore increase the tension level required to draw it through the detwister.

l mount a plurality of blocks 28 circumferentially about the end of the tube guide 12, by means of screws 29 threaded into the ring 25. Each block has a recess 31 to receive the lip of the guide, and terminates in a protrusion 30 which extends axially into the guide, and only partially across its radial dimension. The protrusions 30 are secured to the guide by the screws 33.

A smooth curvature is imparted to the apical surfaces of the protrusions; they may, for example, have the approximate form of semi-ellipsoids. Thus a minimum of longitudinal drag is imposed on the cloth bundle as it passes through the tube. However, the protrusions engage the bundle and are capable of twisting it when the tube guide is turned about its major axis.

Referring now to FIG. 4, the detwister apparatus ineludes means for manually or automatically rotating the guide 12 as necessary to remove twists from the cloth bundle. These means include a reversible electric motor 48 mounted on slides 50 for positioning by a lead screw 52, which is operable by a hand crank 54 to adjust the tension in a drive belt 44. This belt is trained around an adjustable-diameter sheave 46 fixed on the motor shaft, and drives a sheave 42 fixed on a shaft 38 which is mounted in bearings 40 on the frame 14 of the detwister.

A drive belt 34 is trained around a sheave 36 fixed on the shaft 38, and a sheave 32 attached to the tube guide 12. The belts and sheaves afford a speed-reducing drive for turning the guide at a moderate'angular velocity.

The motor 48 is selectively operable by the twist detector previously described to rotate the tube guide 12 in either angular direction as necessary to remove twist from the cloth bundle. Alternatively, the motor may be manually operated by an operator observing the condition of the bundle.

While the protrusions 30 have been illustrated in a roughly semi-ellipsoidal form, it will be understood that they may be of any configuration that has no sharp projections or comers that might snag the cloth or impose excessive drag, and which projects sufficiently into the tube guide to effectively remove twist from the cloth bundle by turning it with the guide. The radial height and circumferential spacing of the protrusions should be selected with due reference to the relation between the diameters of the tube guide and the cloth bundle, so that the bundle will not become snagged between adjacent or opposed protrusions, but will at the same time be, sufficiently contacted by the protrusions to be detwisted when the tube guide is turned. It will be apparent that the improved detwister apparatus can also be used to impart intentional twist to a cloth bundle, as

said guide having an internal tubular passage open at either end and formed with a number of protrusions extending only partially across the width of the passage and spaced apart around the periphery of the passage to engage and turn the bundle about its length dimension as said guide rotates.

2. Apparatus as recited in claim I, said protrusions being formed adjacent to an end of said passage at which the cloth enters said tube guide.

3. Apparatus as recited in claim 1, said protrusions having apical surfaces of approximately semi-ellipsoidal form.

4. Apparatus as recited in claim 1, together with means forming an enlarged bell mouth extending from an entrance end of said tube guide at which the cloth enters said passage.

5. Apparatus as recited in claim 4,.said bell mouth comprising a ring spaced from said entrance end and of greater width then said passage and frame members supporting said ring in alignment with said entrance end and defining an entry converging from said ring to said entrance end.

6. Apparatus as recited in claim 1, together with reversible motive means drivingly connected for rotating said tube guide selectively in either angular direction about the major longitudinal axis of said passage.

7. Apparatus for detwisting or twisting a length of cloth which is bundled into the form of rope and travels lengthwise; said apparatus comprising a tube guide having an internal cylindrical passage through which the bundled cloth is fed longitudinally; means mounting said tube guide for angular displacement about its major axis; and

means. forming a plurality of protrusions having smoothly curved apical surfaces, and each extending inwardly from interior surfaces of said passage only partially across the radial dimension of said passage, said protrusions being circumferentially spaced apart about said passage to engage surface areas of the cloth bundle for removing twists therefrom when said tube guide is displaced in angular direction opposite to the twists. 

1. Apparatus for detwisting or twisting a length of cloth which is bundled into the form of a rope and travels lengthwise; said apparatus comprising a hollow tube guide through which the cloth bundle passes, means for rotating said guide about the length dimension of the bundle in either selected angular direction, said guide having an internal tubular passage open at either end and formed with a number of protrusions extending only partially across the width of the passage and spaced apart around the periphery of the passage to engage and turn the bundle about its length dimension as said guide rotates.
 2. Apparatus as recited in claim 1, said protrusions being formed adjacent to an end of said passage at which the cloth enters said tube guide.
 3. Apparatus as recited in claim 1, said protrusions having apical surfaces of approximately semi-ellipsoidal form.
 4. Apparatus as recited in claim 1, together with means forming an enlarged bell mouth extending from an entrance end of said tube guide at which the cloth enters said passage.
 5. Apparatus as recited in claim 4, said bell mouth comprising a ring spaced from said entrance end and of greater width then said passage and frame members supporting said ring in alignment with said entrance end and defining an entry converging from said ring to said entrance end.
 6. Apparatus as recited in claim 1, together with reversible motive means drivingly connected for rotating said tube guide selectively in either angular direction about the major longitudinal axis of said passage.
 7. Apparatus for detwisting or twisting a length of cloth which is bundled into the form of rope and travels lengthwise; said apparatus comprising a tube guide having an internal cylindrical passage through which the bundled cloth is fed longitudinally; means mounting said tube guide for angular displacement about its major axis; and means forming a plurality of protrusions having smoothly curved apical surfaces, and each extending inwardly from interior surfaces of said passage only partially across the radial dimension of said passage, said protrusions being circumferentially spaced apart about said passage to engage surface areas of the cloth bundle for removing twists therefrom when said tube guide is displaced in angular direction opposite to the twists. 